He has been lethargic since getting up this morning. He just wants to sleep all the time, and he hasn’t even touched his food. I had only wormed him on Saturday evening (yup, I was home alone worming my dog on Valentine’s night, pfft!) I was terrified he had a reaction to the tablet, so I called the vets and took him in.

Turns out the vet isn’t so sure either. He has a fever, and turns out he has a heart murmur too! I’m shocked about that. We’re not sure yet whether that’ll affect his life-span, but the vet gave Monty some antibiotics and something to bring his fever down, by giving shots.

He was a warrior and took the shots, but he’s barely moved since we got home. We’re going back tomorrow morning, fingers crossed he’ll improve.

He’s my baby.

With all the stress of the day weighing me down, I needed something to comfort me. And if you’re as much as a girl as I am, that always means chocolate. Amirite?

That narrowed it down much… NOT! I mean chocolate comes in all forms, but with pancake day tomorrow I thought I’d celebrate it a day early. I mean, I can have pancakes again tomorrow too, right?

And any other day, maybe multiple times in one day! #pancakegate

And because I needed to calm my nerves, I know it had to be something pretty darn special.

And trust me, these Black Forest Crêpes are good.

Beautiful lacy crêpes smothered in Nutella, then topped with a black cherry compote made with cherry juice and Kirsch, coated with fluffy vanilla whipped cream. Then if that wasn’t enough, drizzled in chocolate with a decorate whipped cream swirl.

These crêpes are a little too good! Gourmet crêpes FTW!

So put the orange, lemons, sugar or the golden or maple syrup away; because after you take one bite of these delicious Black Forest Crêpes, you’re never going to want to have another regular pancake again!

Black Forest Crêpes

These Black Forest Crêpes will be the most decadent crêpes you would ever want for upcoming pancake day!

Ingredients:

Crepes

125g (1 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted

1 tsp white sugar

2 eggs

250ml (scant 1 cup) whole milk

Topping/Filling

390g cherries in a jar (with juice)

2 tbsp kirsch

1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)

1 tsp caster (superfine) sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

125ml (scant ½ cup) double (heavy) cream, whipped to stiff peaks

100g (approx. 3½ tbsp) nutella

50g (1.8oz) dark chocolate, chopped

Directions:

Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the sugar, then beat the eggs with the milk. Add the milk to the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth ensuring no lumps remain. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Drain the cherries over a bowl collecting their juice. Add the cherry juice to a small saucepan, and if using the kirsch, mix the cornflour and kirsch together then add to the cherry juice. If not using the kirsch, remove a little of the cherry juice and mix the cornflour in, then mix into the juice.

Boil the cherry juice, whisking every now and again until it starts to thicken. Once it starts to thicken, whisk continuously until a thick and smooth. Fold the cherries into the thickened cherry juice and set aside.

Whisk the double cream with the caster sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate over a double boiler, turning off the heat when melted.

Add the cream to a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle, set aside.

Pour the crepe batter into a hot and greased frying pan or skillet. Quickly help the batter spread out - I used a heat resistant spatula. After 30-seconds to 1 minute check the underside of the crepes and flip them over, greasing the pan if needed.

Once the crepes are made, it's time to assemble. Spread the nutella over each of the crepes with a knife. Then to one side of the crepe (imagine it folded in half), top with the cherry compote using a slotted spoon, then pipe whipped cream on top of the cherries.

Gentle fold all the crepes in half - the nutella helps it stick to the cream a little, then drizzle the melted chocolate over the crepes.

Top each of the crepes with a decorative swirl using the remaining whipped cream.

I picked up my ingredients for these crêpes at Tesco because they are the only store I could find with the cherries already soaked in Kirsch.

I found most of the ingredients in the Home Baking aisle, including the cherries. The eggs are near the baking aisle — near the bread. The chocolate can be found in the confectionary aisle. And the Nutella in the Jams & Spreads aisle.

Hi Betty, Kirsch is a clear fruit brandy made from double distillation of cherries. It means ‘cherry water’ in German. You can find more out about Kirsch here.

However, as I live in the UK, I’m sorry to say that I cannot advise you on where to buy it in your area. I did a Google search on where to buy in the US, and it states that most well-stocked liquor and spirit stores should stock and sell it.

The Kirsch amps up the cherry flavouring, but you can make this recipe without using the Kirsch (or perhaps substituting with a different cherry flavoured liquor, if need be. In fact, I have included the directions on how to make these Black Forest Crepes without the Kirsch should people not want to use it – see step 2. 🙂

I hope that helps? If you need any further help, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks so much, Jess. I feel so out of the loop with everything life is handing over at the moment! I had to take Monty back for another emergency appointment, he was so bad they kept him in. In fact, I just heard from the animal hospital and there’s 2 scenarios – either flu-like symptoms that will get better over time, or something more sinister. They didn’t want to sedate him and run more tests and run the risk on the off-chance he could get better, so I’m off to pick him pin an hour and will be watching him like a hawk.

I guess the cherry brandy would work. If it’s barrel aged cherry brandy, it might be stronger than Kirsch (which isn’t aged), so perhaps start with 1 tbsp with the cornstarch and do a taste test? You can always add the remaining brandy should you feel it needs it.

Also, I haven’t had any issues doubling or halving crepe recipes. You should be good to go. 🙂